


Poison & Wine

by WhatsaBex



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: AU, F/M, Jack and Riley have issues, Jill is alive cuz I liked her, MacRiley will rise, Villian Riley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29090988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatsaBex/pseuds/WhatsaBex
Summary: What if Riley Davis wasn't caught, didn't go to jail, never joined the Phoenix, and went rogue, creating the most feared cyber-terrorist group called N3MESIS?What if one day Mac and his team including: Jack, Jill, Bozer  and Matty were asked to retrieve a new genertion code, called Titan that could kill thousands of people?What if in another life Mac and Riley worked against each other, not with each other?And what if even though they are enemies, they still feel a pull to each other? What if they just want one taste of the other: both the poison and the wine?
Relationships: Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis, Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 67
Kudos: 90





	1. Long Time No See

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! I am back with the twisted alternate universe story I talked about so much. Now I have some ideas where I wanna take this but I will try to go with the story as much as I can. It is going to be updated weekly (hopefully) as my last semester is starting soon.  
> Jack and Jill are not dead, cuz I love them. Bozer knows the truth, so basically it is after S1. Russ doesn't exist for me, and as for Desi... I have special plans for her, haha.  
> I am going to use parts of the last seasons but I'll bend the story according to my will, and I hope you will like it.
> 
> Let me know what you thought here or on Twitter (@whatsabex10) but now without more rambling, enjoy.  
> xx

**Chapter 1**

**Long Time No See**

One decision after another. That’s all it takes to build your fate, to pave your path. For many it can become the yellow brick road to the Land of Oz, for others it’s the dark, redundant trail leading deep in the woods, until you get lost forever. The difference between the two destinations can be found in one tiny decision you make and this thought often haunted Riley Davis. Especially during sleepless nights, or on evenings like this when she was forced to get out of her house because narcissistic idiots were not willing to pay up for her  _ help _ unless she handed it over personally. She has made so many decisions in her life sometimes it felt like she lived 5 live times already since… well, since she was left all alone. It’s been long years since she lost the only person who truly loved her and it was a hard lesson for her to learn but she did, and now many people feared the name Artemis37. She should have been proud, and a part of her was. While another part kept saying she was going deeper in the woods. 

The moment that came back to her so many times was the day when she hacked the NSA. There was a split second when she thought about purposely screwing up just so the Organization would leave her mother go even if she would have been sent to jail. Sometimes, like right now, while she was sitting in front of her mirror, getting ready for the auction, she played with the idea: what would have happened. She would have gone to jail for sure, but after being released she could have moved on, probably never touch a computer again but work in an IT shop, which was the closest she could have gotten to tech. She thought of those ridiculous purple uniforms she saw on those guys sometimes… Maybe meet a guy, someone smart, caring, goofy, someone who could make her smile, which she rarely did nowadays, perhaps spend their weekends as the laziest couple ever with watching movies, eating popcorn while laying on a couch, beating him in every possible game… maybe even go to the Arcade like she used to. Would she be happy though? Would it be enough for her? 

However, after the split second was gone, Riley decided to do everything the Organization asked of her and got them the data they needed just so she could save her mother. She made a choice she was forced to regret for the rest of her life when she watched them shoot her mother and her, too. She was lucky to have a friend like Kai who patched her up and then stayed with her during those months while she tried to find out her next move. She watched as chaos rose outside in the real world due to the Organization using everything she got from the NSA. Every death she heard about was like a punch in her face: she did this, she helped those bastards and now her mother was gone. 

She didn’t remember when she decided to go after them, but as soon as the decision was made, she took a huge step closer to the deep of the dark forest. Kai was with her all along, supporting while Peyton left and built a life for herself. Riley knew to be able to take down the Organization she needed a lot more than just hold a gun to their heads. She hacked the NSA so she couldn’t call the police. She couldn’t think of anyone else but herself to save her. So she did what she was best at: improvised. Slowly but surely she built a team around herself who were the best of the best and they didn’t stop until every bit of the Organization was overshadowed by their enemy, or as they decided to call themselves: N3mesis. And now, years after those decisions, they were gone and the people who once longed to be part of the Organization were now working with N3mesis, for the famous Artemis37. Her name was whispered all around the world and her team was feared by many. Truth be told she didn’t know how her original plan grew into all of this, but she would have lied if she said she didn’t enjoy it. She was always the weird one, the nerd who taught herself how to hack and now if she wanted something, she could easily get it. Somewhere hidden in her mind, after all those years of seeking revenge, a very faint voice kept telling her she became the exact same thing she swore to destroy. She was now the Organization just with a different name and this kept her awake most of her nights. 

However, there was no point in dreaming about different lives she could have had, or to try to quit now. This was her life, this was her path and all she could do was go forward. 

“Hey, Ri, you ready?” She heard Matt, her bodyguard, at least that’s how he referred to himself, calling for her. 

“What’s the hurry?” She rolled her eyes and started to look for her red lipstick while the door behind her opened. “The auction won’t start until I show up, and no one would dare calling me out on it anyways.”

“Touche,” appeared Kai in the door, too. “In spite of how much you hate these things, you really pulled yourself together. No hoodie, or black leather jacket? Though the dress is still black.”

“We both know, Kai, these bosses give more credit to how you are dressed than to how you could destroy their entire lives with one click,” Riley huffed when she stood up. “Let’s get this over with, okay? It’s an easy transaction: we give Titan to the highest bidder and leave.” They all nodded in unison. 

💻💻💻

“I am telling you, it was not my fault!” Jack was still trying to explain why instead of quietly taking out the guards during their last opt, he accidentally triggered every god damn alarm around the safe house causing Mac and of course Matty a lot of headache.

“Dalton, zip it now, or I swear…” Matty was more pissed than usual, and it couldn’t have been simply because of Jack’s mistake. He did things like this all the time. There was something else bothering her, Mac could easily tell. 

“Matty, is something wrong?” He asked finally. She took a deep breath turning away from Jack sending him one last murderous stare. She looked at Jill behind them and nodded. 

“A friend of mine from the CIA called,” she said and turned around to look at the screen behind her full of terrorist attacks. “Have you ever heard of N3mesis?”

“Isn’t it a small terrorist group?” Mac asked, trying to remember when he heard about the name. “Oh, yes, during our mission in Rio, the tech they tried to use was made by them.”

“You’re right, they were a small cyber-terrorist group, but that was 4 years ago,” Matty nodded. “Just in the last year they have sold at least a dozen dangerous techs, or hacked different government servers to sell the information.”

“What do we know about them?” Jack asked.

“Not much, unfortunately. They hide their tracks incredibly well but have the codename for their leader: Artemis37.”

“Where have I heard this name before?” Mac looked at Matty but instead of her, Jill answered.

“She was the one who hacked the NSA 6 years ago,” she said with excitement in her voice. “I have checked the previously acquired tech they have sold, and based on what Matty’s friend says, she is an amazingly skilled hacker!”

“Okay, and what does this have to do with us?” Jack asked.

“Tonight there will be an auction where the highest bidder will get hold of her new code named Titan,” Matty answered and looked at Jill to give more detail.

“Titan is basically an override, it’s a code that can corrupt any system in a matter of minutes, all one has to do is to attach it to anything that’s connected to a computer and bamm full control,” Jill couldn’t help but smile until she realized she was talking about a weapon that could cost a lot of innocent lives. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound so happy.. just you see it’s insanely hard to create a code that can universally take over the control of entire systems,” after seeing Jack’s confused face she continued. “These days almost everything is connected to computers like every car made after 2000, or airplanes. The person who gets Titan can hijack them in minutes and then… well you know.”

“Well then, I guess it’s a simple job: get Titan and Artemis,” Mac stood up from his seat.

“Artemis is a very cautious person, she rarely shows up in person, so your only job is to acquire Titan and get the hell out. This place is going to be full of wanna-be terrorists and maffia leaders but also very dangerous targets too, who are possibly wanted by the FBI,CIA, Interpol and so on,” Matty corrected. “Bozer is waiting for you in the lab, wheels are up in 30.”

Jack and Mac were almost at the door when Matty stopped them for one more second.

“Boys, be careful, okay?” They nodded and then looked at Jill who seemed worried too. She had their backs since Nikki died and with every mission seemed more at ease. Not this time. 

“Guys, based on what I saw, it seems Artemis37 is a genius!” she tried to warn them. “Be very careful because she is like a Mac 2.0. She hack computers the same way you hack everything else.”

“It’s going to be alright, Jill!” Mac tried to calm her with a smile. “It’s an easy action: we get Titan and leave.” She nodded but they all knew: no mission was ever easy, and every of their plans went sideways sooner or later. But all they had to do was improvise. 

💻💻💻

The place was full of people which Riley was not a fan of. The mansion was one of her old “business partners” who was happy to host the auction of famous paintings. The one about Artemis was the one everybody waited for. After all those years while Riley stayed in the shadows it was understandable people wanted to know her personally, they all wanted to see the woman behind the screen. But she thought the mystery could have been used to her advantage more than paradeing and befriending these people. There was a lot of power in knowing everything about them, while they didn’t know anything about her. So when she asked his friend, Alberto, to prepare a separate room for her where no one can bother her during the auction, he was more than happy to oblige. The moment she arrived at the mansion, she put on a hard look, which Matt usually called: The Ice Queen look, and she muted Alberto’s chatting. She sat down in her seat in the prepared room and decided to ignore everything and anyone until the highest bidder came for Titan.

She very much enjoyed the room she was offered: it was a dark office, but one of it’s wall was made of glass and she could see everyone in the ballroom. She caught some of them trying to get a glimpse of her but Matt and the others stood there, blocking the view. From up here they seemed like servants wanting to see their queen and truth be told: she loved the feeling. Riley didn’t grow up with much sense of control, she saw things and went through things she wouldn’t wish to her enemies, but all of that made her a lot stronger. So now, even if it was partially a facade she played the cold queen. She kept her gaze on the gathering crowd, the auction was about to start in the next 10 minutes so hopefully in an hour or so she could leave. 

“How rude of me, I didn’t even order a drink yet. What can we bring for you, Miss Artemis?” Alberto asked. She wanted to say a beer, but she knew better than that. A beer would have been Riley’s answer, but tonight she was Artemis.

“Surprise me,” she answered instead. Alberto almost looked like she scared him with saying this, but considering how much shit she had to clean up after this man, and how much she knew about his dirty secrets, he was probably right to be sacred.

“You know sometimes your show is so convincing even I feel intimidated,” Kai noted when they were left alone. She was smiling and yet there was something in her eyes that made her feel weird. 

“We have to be seen as ruthless as the people we are dealing with are or they would think they can screw us over,” Riley sighed and she tried very hard not to think of the day when she learned this lesson. Kai gave her a sad nod, showing she knew very well what haunted her. 

Before she could have given into her ghosts again, she looked back at the crowd slowly getting ready for the bidding. She has worked too hard to give up now, to turn around and quit just because her conscience woke up. This wasn’t a world of good and bad people, nothing was just black and white. She merely gave people information, a tool, and what they did with it was no longer her business. At least this was what she kept telling herself almost every night. She tried to turn off her head, just for a little bit longer. She sometimes allowed herself to cry when the demons of her past returned, but only in her quarters where no one could see her. She just had to hold on a bit longer before she could have given into it again. Kai and Matt shared a concerned look when they saw Riley sink into total silence, her gaze empty and cold. 

And that’s when she saw him. He was dressed as a waiter going around in the room, but his eyes were searching for something or someone. It’s been so many years since she saw him last, but it was him, no doubt. She leaned forward in her seat as if she wanted to get closer to him. The indifference in her eyes changed to anger in an instant, and Kai could see how every bit of her body tensed up. She followed her gaze.

“Who is it, Ri?”

“Someone I haven’t seen for years…” she said, fighting back tears of anger and sadness. “A ghost from my past: Jack Dalton.”

💻💻💻

Mac and Jack tried their best to blend in but truth be told, Jack as a waiter was probably not a good idea.

“Dalton, can’t you just keep your hand steady? We don’t need you to pour champagne on someone who might shoot you for it...” they hear Matty on their comms. If it wasn’t for the at least 10 highly wanted criminals in the room, Mac would have laughed. But her good mood was usually ruined when he thought of how many different ways this night could end badly. 

He circled around the room, listening into bits and pieces of conversations but nothing that could have been useful for them. He saw that there was another floor and one of the rooms was directly looking at the ballroom. There were at least two figures blocking the view but as he moved around, he could catch a woman sitting in an armchair looking down at them. Mac couldn’t get a good look at her face, but considering how she distanced herself from everyone and how protected she was, Mac had the wild guess she might have been the famous Artemis37. He signalled to Jack with his head to meet him at the bar. 

“What is it?”

“I think Artemis is here,” he told Jack, and nodded to the room upstairs. Jack subtly looked there and back at Mac, with his usual  _ what-now _ look. “Matty, Artemis is here, what should we do?” 

“Are you sure it’s her?” she asked in the comms.

“Well, not entirely, but yeah, I think it has to be her,” Mac answered but before he could have said anything else, one of the men came up to him. 

“You, get a bottle of our finest wine and bring it up to Ms Arte… to my guest upstairs, understood?” he said to Mac, who only nodded. A second later someone called the man, Alberto to introduce them to someone. 

“Yes, Matty, we are sure it’s her. And it seems I am the chosen one to bring her wine,” Mac joked but apparently Matty was not in the mood. 

“Mac, don’t. Your job is to get the Titan without anyone noticing and get out. You are unarmed and I bet someone like Artemis must have security.”

While they were talking Mac already moved to the backroom where they kept the fill-up for the bar. Matty was right, they were unarmed because every staff member was searched at the gate, but he still had his Swiss Army knife which was all he needed. And for Jack… well, they should have been able to figure something out.

“Matty, listen, this might be our only chance of catching Artemis, you said yourself she covers all of her tracks, we have to know who she is and catch her before she gives Titan to anyone. Don’t worry about us, we’ll improvise something. Just get ready for the exfil.”

After Matty agreed to their plan Mac started quickly looking for something that would have been used as a weapon. They didn’t have much time, Artemis was waiting for her drink, and if the big boss saw that he didn’t do what he asked of him, he would have sent someone else. From what they saw, there were two people in the room with her, possibly one more at the door. So if they took out the first guy fast and quietly Jack could use his gun to take down the two other in the room. When Mac’s eyes finally stopped on a mini-vacuum he smiled widely at Jack. 

“Okay, I’ll taser the first bodyguard you take away his gun, then we leave this hell with Artemis and the Titan, okay?” He asked and Jack grabbed a bottle of wine and a tray. “Okay, let’s do this.”

💻💻💻

“What do you want us to do?” Kai asked while Riley still kept looking at Dalton who was now speaking to another waiter. None of them seemed like waiters and the way Blondie talked, it seemed they had comms on. Riley held out her hand and without asking for anything Matt already put her laptop in her hands. “What are you doing?”

“Just running a facial recognition on Dalton and his friend,” she said and in a couple of seconds the results were in. “It seems Jack and his friend, Mr MacGyver are working for a think-tank called Phoenix Foundation… Interesting. I think they were sent by the DXS.”

“Okay, so what do you want us to do?” Matt asked this time. “Should I call for back-up? Sergei and Chuck are outside with the car.”

“No,” Riley closed the laptop. She might have played the Ice Queen too long, because right now it seemed the ruthless and feared Artemis was taking over Riley Davis. “The best way to find out what they want is if we play along with their game.” They all looked down at the two figures coming out of the back room with a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. “Matt, you take the door, they will expect a bodyguard outside. Let them in, I’ll deal with the rest.”

“But, Ri…”

“Don’t worry, they are unarmed, what could they do to me? Plus Kai will be here with me,” she said and finally Matt nodded, then left the room.

Kai looked at Riley with a concerned looked. She heard about Jack before, a very long time ago, on a drunk night Riley told her about the man she loved like father, the man who made her feel loved and happy, the man who left her and her mother. There was a part of her that blamed Jack Dalton for the downfall of her life. If he never left them maybe her mother would be still alive. Maybe she would have never ended up here. But again, dwelling on all the “ _ what would have happened” _ s made no sense. Instead of saying anything Riley settled down in the armchair opposite the door this way Jack couldn’t see her face immediately. She longed for the minute of control again. Kai stood at the wall two feet away from her when they heard a loud thump and the door opened.

“Your drink, Ms Artemis,” Jack’s voice came from behind and Riley took a deep breath before answering. 

“Put it down on the table, then you can leave.”

“I am afraid that’s not possible,” the clicking sound of a gun filled the silence and from the corner of her eye, Riley saw as Kai reached for her gun. “I wouldn’t do that or you’ll end up just as shocked as your friend outside. Now, if Ms Artemis comes with us, taking Titan as well, we could be on our merry way.”

This was the moment Riley decided to end her charade. She stood up very slowly, and turned around. She wanted to engrave the moment in her mind when Jack realized who she was. His face showed at least 10 different emotions while he processed the sudden turn of events.

“Long time no see, Jack,” she said after a long minute. Blondie next to him looked at Jack who lowered his weapon but when I stepped closer he snapped out of his shock.

“Stay there, Riley, don’t make me do this.”

“You know her?” asked Blondie and their eyes met for a split second. He had incredible blue eyes, and a very handsome face, she had to admit. But right now she was Artemis, she could have cared less of his look. 

“Oh, yes, Mr MacGyver dear old Jack Dalton and I used to be very close, didn’t we?” she looked back at Jack, taking one more step closer. If she extended her arm, she could have touched him at this point. “Or at least we were close until he decided to disappear entirely… Wasn’t his best moment.”

“Riley, I am so sorry.. But what are you doin’ here?” Before he could have said anything else, she launched forward and got the gun from his hand. 

“See, I still remember everything you taught me,” she smiled at him and pointed the gun right at his head. The voice in her head that said he deserved to die the same way as her mother did was suddenly too loud, she got scared of how easily she could have ended someone’s life. Her hand started shaking. From the corner of her eyes she saw as Matt quietly got in the door, he was only a couple of feet away. “Don’t worry, Jack, we will have plenty of time to catch up, but right now we have other things to attend to.”

Suddenly Matt knocked out Blondie and then he started fighting with Jack. When he turned around Riley used the gun and hit him hard on the head with the handler. Both men were now unconscious laying on the floor. 

“What the… This guy made a taser of a friggin  _ mini-vacuum _ ? Who does that?” Kai looked impressed and shocked when she took away Blondie’s DIY taser. 

“It seems Jack made some very interesting friends since we last saw each other,” Riley claimed and gave the gun to Matt. Suddenly she forgot about everything: the auction, Artemis, the Titan… All she wanted to go home and finally ask Jack the questions she always wanted to. “Okay, take him, and let’s go!”

“But what about the bidding?” Kai stopped her.

“I don’t care about this stupid auction. If they want the Titan, they’ll reach out and get it another time! I am Artemis37 and I am writing the rules!” 

For a minute both Kai and Matt looked at her like she lost her mind. She might have. But she had to hold onto the anger in her. The rage was so much easier to handle than the sadness and loneliness she felt after Jack left. No, she had to focus on the disappointment and the anger for now. 

“Okay, I’ll call the guy,” Matt said and then looked down at the two bodies. “What about pretty boy?”

Riley allowed herself a minute to stare at Angus MacGyver in front of her. Now that she took in all of his features, he was not simply handsome, we was  _ very, very _ handsome. His jawline was like it was sculpted by Italian masters and his blonde hair framed his face as silk. It would have been a great shame to leave him behind with Alberto who most definitely would have gotten rid of him. Plus seeing how creative he was with weapons… 

“He might be useful later, and he already heard my name from Jack, so let’s take him too.”

While she walked down the stairs to the back door, Rilez Davis allowed herself one second to smile. This was definitely not the way she imagined tonight to go down but even though things were messy and she will have to fix things with Alberto, somehow she still felt happy. She got a part of her past back in the form of Jack Dalton and it was only up to her now what to do with it: finally find her way to the yellow brick road, or go deeper in the woods.


	2. Face To Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Action is about to start guys! If you feel some of the lines are familiar it's because I don't mess with perfection and I want to keep as much of the original MacRiley moments as possible.   
> Yeah, I have nothing to add here, except that from now on chapters will be strictly on weekends cuz the semester is about to start and I'll have papers to grade and a thesis to write.   
> Let me know what you think of this here or on Twitter (@whatsabex10), I am trying real hard but sometimes it's still meh.
> 
> With further rambling, enjoy!

**Face To Face**

Riley spent the whole night awake, trying to find the right words to say when Jack woke up. She had thought about this moment many times, cried about it more than she could have recalled andyet now that the time was about to come, she couldn’t bring herself to admit: she was still as hurt as the day Jack left. Kai told her to have some rest but all she did was stare at the ceiling, her mind not willing to stop. Around 6 o’clock she dressed up and went to her study and turned on every computer. She kept her eyes on the big screen of her wall, which was a life stream of Jack and his friend in the basement. They were still unconscious but Riley didn’t mind. She was not even close to being ready to talk to him. After a while, exhaustion took over her body and fell asleep watching over them. In her dream she was 12 again, sitting on the couch with Jack, laughing… and then she was hiding in her room listening to people fight outside. She had to listen to the sound of yelling, and then a door slammed and her mother’s cry.

“Ri… wake up,” she jumped when she finally found her way out of her dream, nearly hitting Kai, who was standing in front of her, trying to wake her. “Hey, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she brushed her hair out of her face and stood up. She looked at the screen. “When did he wake up?” 

“About 10 minutes ago,” Kai answered, sitting down in an armchair. “I knew you would want to know what they talk about that’s why I came in to wake you. But Jack is still passed out and the other guy didn’t do much, just kept checking everything in his cell. Adn by everything I mean literally everything. He is weird.” 

Riley kept her eyes on the man, Angus MacGyver as she recalled his name. And just like Kai said he was going around, touching, checking everything, including the biometric lock on the door. He was definitely trying to find a way out, and she enjoyed the idea. Riley knew there was no way this man could do anything since she was the one who coded the entire security system of the building, but it was definitely entertaining to watch someone try. Considering how he made a taser out of a mini vacuum, she was sure, this man must have been good at… well whatever he was doing. 

“Ri, what are you doing?” She heard Kai ask.

“Watching them,” Riley answered as she sat down next to the girl. When she looked at her friend, Riley sighed. “Okay, I get it. But honestly, I am not sure. I just need to talk to him, ask him the question I always wanted. I just… I don’t know, Kai, but I’ll figure something out.”

“Well, you better, because yesterday was a disaster,” if there was something Riley really valued about their friendship, it was Kai’s honesty. Even if it sucked to hear it sometimes. “Listen, we were supposed to get a lot of money out of the auction, possibly get out of here and have a life-long vacation on an island. But now we have two prisoners, a bunch of guards who have no idea what is happening now, a very confused Alberto who left you like 100 messages since last night and a lot of pissed buyers. I just hope you know what kind of risk you took with taking them.”

“Trust me, Kai, I’ll figure something out,” she said but it was more to convince herself than to Kai. 

“I trust you with my life, Ri, and you know it,” Kai stood up to leave the room but Riley couldn’t take her eyes off of the screen. Her friend let out a deep sigh. “You are one of the smartest people I know, so I am sure you already know how this can end…”

Without adding anything else she left Riley alone with guilt rising in her chest. Kai was right, she took a very big risk with blowing off the whole auction and kidnapping two waiters, even if they were definitely not just waiters. When she made her decision she could only think of facing Jack, finally doing what she always wanted: ask questions. But she forgot about the consequences. Kai didn’t have to say out loud what options she had after asking the questions. Now that Jack and his friend knew who Artemis37 was she couldn’t simply let them go, because if she did they would have returned and took all of them down. They would have taken away everything she worked for, and put her in jail for the rest of her life among Kai and Matt. Just the thought of being separated from her patched-up family, scared her more than anything before. But the other option was still more terrifying: pulling the trigger to silence Jack once and for all. 

💻💻💻

“Mac?” Jack called out his name as soon as he woke up on the floor. His head was hurting enough to make him swear for a whole minute. But then he remembered why he was hurt.

“Took you long enough,” Mac said from behind him. Jack sat up just to find himself in a cell, which was right next to Mac’s. These weren’t exactly cells, more like cages, but considering that Mac was still inside, they must have been built pretty well, otherwise his genius would have already found a way out.

“Yeah, I know, I just needed some beauty sleep, plus I wanted to give you time to get us out of here,” Jack made a joke just like all the when they were in a tense situation. 

“I hate to say this: but I have no idea how to get out,” Mac admitted and it really seemed to bother him.

“That’s okay, a half idea is usually the best you have so what about those?”

“Jack, there is absolutely nothing I could do. These bars are titanium, the lock is biometric and we are in an empty basement, oh and of course they took away my Swiss Army knife,” Mac was frustrated, that much was clear to Jack. And when they finally faced each other he could tell he was pissed. “So I am afraid all we can do is sit here and wait for either Matty to find us or for your friend to come and kill us.”

Jack felt sincerely guilty for the situation they were in. If it wasn’t for him Riley… or Artemis as she called herself lately, wouldn’t have kidnapped them. But how could he have known? The last time he saw the girl was long years ago, she was only 12 years old, a funny and smart kid who loved to tease him. She has definitely changed.

“Who is she? How do you know her, Jack?” Mac asked again when he saw Jack get lost in his thoughts. 

“It’s a long story,” he answered briefly which only made Mac angrier. It was not a sight Jack saw too often.

“Oh, that’s okay, we don’t really have anywhere to go, do we?” Mac looked at him, questions all over his face. “So who is this Riley?”

After taking a deep breath, Jack travelled back in his memories to the happiest time of his life: when he felt he had a family. He told Mac about Diane, how they met, how she absolutely mesmerized him with her beauty. She was fierce, didn’t give in immediately which only made Jack admire her more. He had to work for this woman, and he was more than happy to do so. So when she finally said yes, he was like a school boy. Diane told him about her daughter, Riley, and how she was alone with her. She was so proud everytime she said her name, but there was some sort of sadness in her voice. The first time he went to their house he was so nervous he barely knew how to drive. He wanted the first impression to be amazing, but instead he screwed up big time. He forgot the flowers but since he was a CIA agent he knew how to adapt to the situation so he got some flowers in front of Diane’s house, just to get caught by Riley. He tried to charm her, explain the situation but instead of that the girl put a charm on him when she blackmailed him into taking her to the arcade and in return she didn’t rat him out. Even now, when Jack was held prisoner by the same person, he couldn’t help but laugh and get emotional by the memory. He adored the kid from that moment on, she was becoming the daughter he never had... but he had to leave. He didn’t explain to Mac why because it was the complicated part of his story. He could only say that he had to leave. Mac nodded to him, his anger softened into understanding. They chose a life that was not for building families, and sometimes they had to pay a high price when they tried.

On the other end of the camera, Riley tried to stop the emotions attacking her without warning. She wasn’t that kid anymore, she was now Artemis37 and the man who could have been the father she always dreamed about was long gone.

💻💻💻

“So what did you find?” Riley asked Kai while she was checking some data on Jack and Angus MacGyver. 

“Not much honestly,” Kai answered and read out loud some of the most important information for Riley. “Both of them were military, this MacGyver went to MIT and then he was an EOD, then a couple of years ago they joined a think-tank called Phoenix Foundation.”

“Jack told his friend he was CIA when he met my mother, and considering that he barely has one brain cell, I am curious what kind of contribution he could have in a think-tank,” Riley rolled her eyes, but still watched the screen as the two men were sitting on the floor in silence in their cells. “Now one person who previously worked for the CIA doesn’t just quit to work for a much lower company. The Phoenix must be a cover for DXS which means they have been sent here for a reason. We have to find out what it is. Bring them to me.”

“Riley, I don’t…” Kai tried to stop her when she left the room.

“Kai, you wanted me to do something, here I go,” Riley turned back, dedication in her eyes. She has watched Jack and his friend enough, it was time for talking. “I am going to ask questions and he will answer me or…”

Riley didn’t finish the sentence but both of them knew what she implied. While Riley changed her hoodie and jeans to a more professional black dress she thought about some of the what if-s. What if Jack is not willing to talk to her? What if he is and he says something that would make her angry? Or worse: sad? What if he tried to get to her? And what if he gave her all the answers she wanted: what then? When she returned to the study and took her place at the table, her hand reached for the top drawer. There was no need to wonder about the what if-s. She knew what she had to do, and that’s why she didn’t hesitate to take out her Glock 17. She bought it right after her mother… She wanted revenge and this gun reminded her how much she was willing to do. 

“Artemis, here they are,” Matt and Sergei brought in the two prisoners. She put on a dangerously calm smile and waved to them with her free hand. The other remained on the table, still holding onto her gun. She could see when Jack’s eyes jumped to the gun and back to her face as if couldn’t believe this was happening. 

“Please, take a seat,” and as the men were not responding, Matt and Sergei made them sit down. “You can leave us alone, boys, I can handle them myself.”

The two guards nodded and took their leave while Kai stepped in the room. Riley looked at her and shook her head. This was her issue to solve, a personal ghost to face and she had to do it alone. Kai understood her, walked out after Matt and closed the door behind them.

“Riley, what is this madness?” Jack asked the question almost immediately.

“I am not sure what you mean, Jack,” she was calm, maybe even too calm. Mac had a feeling of a storm coming up.

“What is this whole Artemis mess? And what are you doing with a bunch of cyber-terrorists?”

“That’s not how I would call ourselves,” Riley lifted an eyebrow. “We are just technological contributors for different causes. The real question is what were you,” and for a quick second she looked at Mac, “and Wonder Boy doing at one of my parties? Because I am pretty certain you were not just offering champagne.”

The two men looked at each other. They talked about this in the basement: she already knew they were not waiters, but she didn’t know they were sent by the Phoenix, they couldn’t give her any more information than she already had. But at the same time the look on her face told Mac this woman already knew more than enough. She remembered how Jill called her a genius and that was a very bad omen right now. 

“You used to talk a lot more, Jack, what happened?” 

“I have changed I guess,” he answered carefully. “Just like you did apparently. Riley, the only thing we were there for is the Titan. We don’t want anything else.”

“That’s interesting! Why would someone who sells bathroom tiles need my code?” Riley gave them both a daring look to say something but they kept their mouths shut. “Unless you left the business…”

“Seriously, Riley, do I look like I sold bathroom tile?” Jack asked with a smirk. He was sure Riley already knew this. 

“You are right, you don’t look that smart,” Riley could have sworn she heard a little chuckle coming from Jack’s friend, while he looked at the girl like she burned him. “However, you, Mr MacGyver, seem to be a lot smarter. Not many people would use a mini-vacuum as a taser.”

“I hope it wasn’t a too shocking experience for your friend,” Jack intervened and his pun earned an annoyed side eye from Riley and a clear facepalm from MacGyver. The two didn’t see as Jack looked at them with a curious smile. 

“Jack, you know how I feel about your puns,” Riley said. “Now back to the topic. If you are not selling bathroom tile, what exactly do you do, Mr MacGyver?” 

Riley leaned forward and put both of her hands on the table. She kept her eyes on the handsome man in front of him, checking his reactions. She really wanted to ask Jack all of the questions in her head, but she knew her emotions could get out of control so first she needed information about how much they knew. Mac, in the meantime, couldn’t help but stare at the woman in front of him. She was beautiful and calculating and it was the deadliest combination he could think of. But based on the stories Jack said, he felt maybe she had a side they could intimidate. She was smart to ask about them, trying to get as much information as possible, but he wasn’t willing to play her game. 

“You know how you hack computers?” Mac asked, remembering how Jill called Artemis… Riley MacGyver 2.0. “Well, I hack everything else.”

There was just something about MacGyver’s smile at the end of that sentence, which almost made Riley smile but she controlled her face. He was smart, not giving her information but still answering her question. 

“Interesting, I bet your think-tank is a very unorthodox organisation. What I don’t understand is what kind of use could they have of Jack?” Riley turned back to the man, who was still trying hard not to let his emotions ruin their mission. Truth be told he just wanted to hug Riley, because for him she was still the little girl he left behind. Seeing how this conversation was not going anywhere, Riley decided to quit the charade. She leaned back in her chair. “But what is a lot more interesting is how there is absolutely no record of what your little think-tank does except for a couple of experimental level techs, and why a two men from the military: one who worked as an EOD and one who worked for the CIA is now working as waiters during painting auctions. It’s very strange, isn’t it? 

“You seem to know a lot about us,” MacGyver commented. 

“Occupational hazard, I am afraid,” she answered. The look they shared was a bit too playful and long for two people who just met and were on opposite sides of an invisible war. Jack couldn’t help but notice the way corner of Mac’s mouth turned upwards while Riley lifted one of her eyebrows. They were enjoying their intellectual clash maybe a bit too much. “But I cannot know everything either, so sometimes I guess… like right now I have this wild idea that you two work for DXS under a new name and had been sent to the auction to retrieve Titan but you were not prepared for finding me, were you, Jack?”

“Of course I wasn’t,” Jack blurted it out. They didn’t decline anything she said before that so she knew she was right. “Riley, how could I have ever imagined that you were the person who not only was one of the most wanted hackers in the world but also weaponized terrorists… Do you have any idea what you are doing?”

“I do what I have to so I can survive, Jack!” Riley couldn’t help it, she raised her voice and let the anger flood her body. “I don’t expect you to understand what it is like to be left behind so you have to learn how to take care of yourself. Some of us don't have the luxury to do the right thing all the time.”

“That’s not true,” Jack was upset already, Mac could see it in his eyes. He didn’t say earlier why he left Riley and her mother but it definitely hurt him, just as much as it still hurt the girl. “You can do so much more than this, Riley, you can still decide to do the right thing.”

For a split second Riley played with the thought: the right thing? What was that exactly? And how could she find it? She had been on this path so long she barely knew there were other ways. 

“I am sure this is not what Diane wants you to do,” Jack said it made everything in Riley’s body snap.

“Don’t you dare!”

“You know I am right, Riley…” Jack slowly stood up and leaned in closer to her.

“Jack, stop, right there!” Jack knew he hit the right nerve, the soft spot for Riley has always been her mother. This was the way to make her let them go, possibly stop her for good. But what Jack couldn’t see because his judgment was too clouded by his feelings was that Riley’s hand grabbed for the gun. Mac took a deep breath trying to stop Jack before he said something that pushed the girl over the edge. 

“Kid, she didn’t teach you like this. Does she even know that you are helping criminals to kill thousands of people? What would she think about you if she saw you now, hah?” Mac was too late, Riley was already on her feet, her gun pointed at Jack’s chest. They were both breathing heavily. The tears in her eyes were gathering quickly and she hated herself for letting sadness and heartbreak took over her anger. She wasn’t like this anymore. She quit crying after she lost her mother… after she was left alone again. First her father, then Jack whom she loved more than her own father and then her mother. Everybody kept leaving her and she couldn’t do anything about it.

“Riley!” Kai ran into the room, trying to catch her breath. 

“What’s wrong?” Riley asked and lowered her weapon from Jack. 

“Alberto is here, coming up on the…” but before she could have finished the sentence the man’s voice already traveled through the hallway.

“I have to talk to her now!”

Both women looked shocked for a moment, and Mac started to think maybe this mess was their way out. Until he remembered who Alberto was. He was the man at the auction, Alberto Valemier, famous for his slave trafficking, the 7th most wanted man on the CIA’s list. Seeing how tense Riley became, he knew they had a reason to be scared. Riley looked at the two men in front of him: there was only one way out of this room and in a matter of seconds Alberto was about to get in. They had to stay in the room…

“Riley, what do we do?” Kai asked desperately. 

“Impro…” Mac started.

“Improvise…” and Riley said the same thing at the same time. The two of them looked at each other for a split second, not understanding what was happening but then Riley pulled herself together. “Okay, Kai, you and Jack stand next to me at the windows, just like you always do with Matt, and you…” she pointed at Mac, almost saying Pretty Boy, “you stand on my other side. No one says a word, I talk to him. Don’t even think about any tricks, understood?”

Both men nodded right when the door opened and Alberto hurried in.

“Artemis, I have been calling you all day!” he said and he definitely looked upset, rushing through the room.

“And that gives you permission to violate my privacy, Alberto?” Mac had to look down on the woman sitting next to him. A minute ago she was crying, and almost shooting Jack, and now she had full composure, her voice cold as ice, forcing Alberto to freeze. His sudden dedication to yell at Artemis was wiped away with one sentence. It was terrifying to see the effect of this woman. But in a way almost seductive.  _ What is wrong with you? _ Mac cursed himself for even letting his thoughts go into that direction. 

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude…”

“But you were,” Riley interrupted. “You know, I don’t like to be called out like that, Alberto. If you have an issue we can talk about it in a civilised way, but if you haven’t noticed I am rather busy right now.”

“Wait, aren’t they the waiters from the party?” Alberto asked when he looked at Jack and then at Mac. “Why did you take them?”

“I needed a new bodyguard, you know how easily they… leave,” Riley played the Ice Queen with perfection.

"And what is he doing here them?" Without even looking at the man standing next to her, Riley answered with perfect calmness.

"I thought he is too pretty to be a waiter," she playfully caressed Mac's hand and then held it in hers. The man tensed a bit but didn't move away as he was told. Riley changed her tone when she spoke again. "You told me if I needed anything... Well, I need Pretty Boy, so he stays with me for a while. Unless you have an issue with that.”

For a split second fear lit up in Alberto's eyes. He knew all too well what the woman in front of him was capable of. Sometimes he forgot, but one look like this was a perfect reminder. Mac couldn't help it but felt intimidated by Ms Davis, too. And somehow he was happy to be standing next to her, not opposite her.

“Of course not,” he answered eventually. “I tried to talk to you about the auction. You left me a lot of cleaning up to do, Artemis. People were coming from very far away for Titan, and they were truly disappointed when there was nothing to bid on.”

“They will get over it, Alberto, don’t worry,” Riley smiled.

“No, they won’t!” Alberto blurted it out. Riley’s calmness was suddenly gone. She let go of Mac’s hands and stood up. There was something in the way she moved in front of him. She was in his personal space, her body brushed against his as she walked away to stand in front of Alberto. “People feel you set a trap for them, Artemis. Not much after midnight a team of soldiers rolled up and it was ugly. Of course most of them could escape and the ones who were captured lawyered up, but this won’t go away. They blame you.”

Mac and Jack shared a quick look, knowing it must have been Matty coming after them when their comms went silent. Riley looked at Kai from the corner of her eye. They were right with Matt, she made a huge mistake. She let them down, just like…  _ No, you can’t do this right now! _

“They blame  _ me? _ ” Riley asked and if looks could kill, Alberto would have died then and there. “I was the one who protected their asses in the last years, and they blame me? Are you one of this  _ ”they” _ , Alberto? Do you think I set you up, too?”

“No, of course not,” the man answered and the next minute, Riley kicked him hard in his sensitive spot and then punched him with a solid right hook. Jack gave a proud chuckle to the move, he thought her this. Alberto fell on the floor, looking up from there at the murderous woman. 

“I don’t believe you, my friend! The way you burst through these doors… you didn’t come to warn me. Let me tell you this: I know more about you than you own mother, Alberto Valemier, and if I wanted to destroy you, give you to the CIA I could simply do it from the safety of my own home, why would I risk going to a stupid auction. I never do personal trade, I only did it out of courtesy of our friendship. But you just reminded me that in our line of work friendship doesn’t exist,” if this wasn’t the most subtle way of telling someone he better watch his back because he was a dead man, Mac didn’t know what was. “Thank you for your concern, Alberto, but I think from now on I will personally take care of my trade. Now if you excuse me, I have a lot to handle.”

Riley looked down at the man one more time before walking away. She signalled to Kai, who helped up Alberto and walked him to the door. before he could have left he called after Riley.

“You might be really dangerous and important in our circle, Artemis. But don’t think you are irreplaceable. You are just as easy to kill as anyone else and yesterday you didn’t just lose a friend, but made some very powerful enemies. I give you one last advice as courtesy of our friendship: you better sleep with one eye open from now on.”

Jack could see as Riley’s hands started trembling but she held herself with strength. She kept staring at the guy who was escorted out by one of the guards. Kai walked back and closed the door behind her.

“Ri…”

“Take them back to their cells, I deal with them later!” she gave the advice so decidedly as if she was a commander of armies. But deep down Riley was falling apart. She kept telling herself for years that this was her way, she just had to keep going forward on a lousy bridge built of weak ropes and slates. And yesterday she successfully started burning the bridge behind her. She was about to fall and there was no one to save her now. Kai called in the other guards who made sure Jack and Mac were back in their cells. 

“Riley, this is exactly what I meant,” Jack couldn’t leave like this. He needed an affirmation the woman in front of her was deep down Riley. He needed to tell Mac, that she wouldn’t hurt them. “You really think this is the life your mom wants for you?”

“What a shame we will never know what she would say, because she’s dead,” Riley yelled. “You said you will always protect us, but when she was shot in front of me you were nowhere,” she was looking right into Jack’s eyes, making sure her words cut as deep as possible. “First you let her down, then I did too. We might not have pulled the trigger, but we are her murderers just the same way.” 


	3. No One Left

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter this time.  
> For now enjoy and let me know what you thought here or on Twitter (@whatsabex10).  
> Love y'all.

**Chapter 3: No One Left**

Three hours, that’s how long Mac and Jack had been back in their cages by the times someone showed up again. The girl, Kai as Mac remembered her name, brought them food and some water but Jack barely touched his. That wasn’t the thing that scared Mac the most though. After their meeting with Arte… Riley, he hasn’t said a word which was definitely a warning sign. Jack was not able to shut up for five minutes even during their missions and now he was so deep in his thoughts he didn’t even hear when Mac called out his name. 

“Jack? Jack!”

“Yeah?” He asked when he finally snapped out of it. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“Yes, I asked what’s wrong,” Mac told him. “And don’t you even try saying nothing.”

“I’m just…,” for a couple of minutes he was silent again. “I just can’t believe Diane is gone. I truly thought I was helping them, Mac, and now she hates me. And she has every right.”

“Jack, none of us sees the future! You couldn’t know what is going to happen, you can’t blame yourself for this,” Mac tried to rationalize with him, but he knew Jack all too well after the years they spent together. Right under his macho hard exterior he had a soft heart, and when he let someone in, those people stay for good. It seemed Riley Davis had a special place in his heart and even though they were kept hostage right now, Jack didn’t seem bothered. “Jack, we have to get out of here, and you know it.”

“Of course I do,” he looked at him with a bit of anger. “And don’t worry, I have a plan.”

“Please…”

“No, Mac, don’t even start! I know Riley, the real one, and she is not going to hurt us, I promise you.”

“Are you sure?” Mac didn’t want to hurt his friend but his feelings were now clouding his better judgment. “Because a couple of hours ago she held a gun to you chest.”

“But she didn’t pull the trigger, did she?” It was such a JAck Dalton response, Mac couldn’t help it and he smiled. 

“Let’s say you are right,” Mac was very sceptical and didn’t even try to hide it. They needed a real plan to get out of these cells, somehow find Titan and escape, hopefully in one piece. “What’s your plan?”

“Just trust me!” Jack said. Mac trusted him completely but he learned a long time ago how emotions are a lot more dangerous than a bomb at his feet. And looking at Jack’s face he knew things were about to get really ugly and real soon.

💻💻💻

The night was slowly descending on Riley as she sat on the balcony. The cold wind made her shiver but at least it cleaned out her thoughts to see she was deep in trouble. Alberto was one thing, she knew she handled him as much as she could but knowing that many other people were now on hunt for her… it made her uneasy. Yes, it wasn’t the first time she had to face these big bad guys, but this was the first time she felt she didn’t want to do it. Even though she hated to admit it, Jack was right this wasn’t the life her mother would have wanted for her. 

“Here you are,” Kai showed up next to her with a cup of hot coffee. Riley accepted it with a grateful smile on her face. “I was looking for you everywhere.”

“You found me,” Riley sighed and took a sip of her coffee. 

“How are you?” the woman asked, and Riley almost said _ fine _ without actually thinking about it. 

“I don’t really know,” she admitted and even though she tried really hard, her eyes started to fill up with tears. “Everything is falling apart, Kai, and it’s all my fault! You were right, taking Jack and his friend was stupid… I am so sorry!”

“Listen, you don't have to apologize for anything!” Kai moved right in front of her to make sure she was looking at her while she said these words. “I knew how much you were hurting because of Jack leaving, even if you didn’t talk about it too often, I knew. It’s natural you wanted answers.”

“But I didn’t want answers,” Riley interrupted. She was angry, but not at Kai or Jack. No, she was angry at herself for a very long time now. “I wanted to hurt him, the way he hurt me. And…” Now that she started thinking about it, she couldn’t lie. “I thought, no, I hoped if I told him about what happened, if he knew what he caused by leaving us alone, it would take away some of my pain. I thought I could blame him. But the truth is:  _ I _ decided to hack the NSA, to go down this road,  _ I _ trusted the wrong people and if there is anyone to blame for what happened with my mom it’s  _ me _ .” 

Riley didn’t even realize she started sobbing until Kai hugged her tightly. She didn’t even remember when she cried for the last time, but since Jack Dalton watz his way back into her life things started to fall apart. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Riley played with the thought: maybe this was a sign from the universe that she had to face her past instead of creating a false present. She was putting on a show with Artemis37 for a long time now… but was it really a show? When you pretend to be someone different for so many years, after a while that person becomes a part of you. Even if it scares you.

“Listen,” Kai moved away and smiled at her. “You made those decisions when you were younger, now here we are. We can’t change the past but we can always look forward and do better in the future. It's not too late, we can still start over somewhere far away from here. Leave all of this behind... come on, Ri, let it go!"

"I am trying," she whispered. When she looked up her eyes were filled with tears again. "But even if I can do it, this feeling, everything I've done, they will never let me go."

“You cannot know that,” Kai tried again. “Did we make mistakes? Possibly, but who doesn’t? We had to do something to survive and we did. Now we have everything we need to disappear, start over somewhere like Spain or Italy, just you, me and Matt. What do you say?”

This wasn’t the first time Kai mentioned a start-over. They had more than enough money to buy a new place, and live a peaceful life somewhere but somehow Riley always said no. She didn’t want to tell them but she loved living on the edge, the adrenaline coming with the danger. But maybe it was time to leave and try something new. Maybe even find someone. She smiled at her friend and nodded. 

“Yes? That’s my girl!” Kai was already on a roll. “You don’t have to worry about anything, I’ll take care of the guards, circulate our money around so many ghost account they will never find them. I’m going to tell Matt! Barcelona, here we come!” She had a huge grin on her face, Riley had to follow her lead. Yes, it was the right decision.

Riley turned back to look at the clear sky, knowing this might be the last night she spends here. But then Kai came back with a concerned look on her face.

“There is one thing though… We always made sure our identities were a secret and no one could come after us when we decided to quit. But if you are right, and Jack work for DXS, we can’t just leave them behind. He knows who you are, and your life would be a constant run.”

Riley knew what she was trying to say. They couldn’t leave loose ends behind, and thanks to Riley Jack now knew who Artemis37 was. He was a liability and so was his friend. If she asked, Kai could have easily handled them, give orders to the guards to take care of the two men and she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. And yet, she didn’t say a word. This was something she had to do on her own. 

“I’ll take care of them,” she said. Kai nodded and hurried back into the house. Riley took one last look at the view before following her to get her gun. It was time for letting the last part of her past die with Jack Dalton.

💻💻💻

“That is not a plan, Jack!”

“Oh come on, like your plans are any different,” Jack said to Mac. “Believe me, she is going to listen to me. She is not going to hurt us.”

Right before Mac could have told him anything the door to the basement opened. Mac expected the guards to escort them to Riley, or maybe the girl, Kai, bringing them something. But it was Artemis37 herself. She walked to their cells slowly, her face unreadable. The fact that she came to them and didn’t not send for them suggested that maybe Jack was right, maybe everything that happened did break something in her, and reminded her of what her mother would have wanted. Jack smiled at the girl when she opened his cell door and walked in. Mac kept his eyes on the woman in front of him, this time he had a chance to have a closer look. He could tell something was shifting in her because the cold eyes that were scanning every reaction from him a day ago, were now empty. Like she was dying inside.

And then he saw the gun in her hand. He couldn’t say a word to Jack or save him. If he was wrong about her, if she was not the girl, he remembered and deeply loved then he was about to watch his best friend… brother getting killed. 

“Ri, I am so sorry. I didn’t know about…” before Jack could have finished the sentence, Riley held the gun against his head. 

She wasn’t stupid, she knew how her tech, everything she created could have been used as the deadliest weapons. She knew that she had blood on her hands, even if she didn’t push the button to kill those people. But right now, she was the one holding the gun, it was her choice to pull the trigger and she was about to get real blood on her hands. Not anyone’s blood but the man’s whom she once loved as a father. This was going to leave in her memory for the rest of her life either if she pulled the trigger or not.

Mac kept his eyes on Jack waiting for him to start talking. His not even half plan was to get to her, but he didn’t say anything. He just stood there 

“If you think that this,” Jack nodded to the gun, “will make it better, stop the pain and help you move on, then do it. Pull the trigger, Ri."

Mac looked at Jack as if he lost his damn mind. This was definitely not a plan he was supporting. Mac couldn't do anything just watched as Jack closes his eyes and smiled.

"It's okay, kid, do what you have to."

Riley expected a lot of things from Jack Dalton but not this. Suddenly every memory that she held in her heart started flooding her mind. Jack picking her up after she got in a fight at school because some idiot started bullying her. Jack coming over and making her watch all the Die Hard movies doing a terrible Bruce Willis impersonation just to make her smile. Jack taking her to the arcade, being all excited and she had to lose every now and then to make sure his smile stayed on his face.

But even if that Jack and this one were the same, she wasn't. Mac could see as Riley’s hand trembled a bit when she adjusted her finger on the trigger. 

“Riley,” this was the first time he said her name out loud. If Riley wasn’t so consumed by her fear of what she was about to do, she could have felt the little shiver that ran through her body. “Riley, believe me, you don’t want to do this.”

“How would you know?” she asked and didn’t take her eyes off of Jack.

“Because I have been there,” Mac took a step closer. Even if there were bars between them he still felt a pull to her. “I know that you must have spent years feeling guilty for what happened. I am so sorry for your mom, I truly am, but killing us won’t take that away.” Riley couldn’t help it, she looked at the man who was now almost at the bars. His blue eyes were fixed on her but they didn’t seem to look for any possibility for escaping. He wasn’t talking to her to trick her. He was looking at her like he could see right through her, until he reached her darkening soul. “I made a mistake, too, and my father paid for it. I have to live with that guilt for the rest of my life just like you do… But this… you don’t want Jack’s death on your consciousness, even if you leave this place, it would be a ghost that never stops haunting you.”

“You don’t understand,” Riley wanted so much to believe it was that easy to go back from all she did. To forget. But she knew if she didn’t do this she would have been on the run for the rest of her life until they caught her and put her in jail. “This is the only way…”

“There is always another way, and if you put down the gun, we will help you find it…,” Mac felt the moment, the insecurity, the struggle in Riley finally showing. Jack was right, she was right there and this gave Mac another push to try to help her. At this point he wasn’t trying to stop, no, he wanted to help her. “If you want to cry Jack will hold you and if you want to get rid of your anger, burn something, I will make you some matches! But this is not going to make anything better or easier. It will push you over the edge and there will be no coming back.”

“What makes you think I want to come back? That I care even a bit about him to feel guilt?” Riley wished he didn’t seem so sincere. She wished he was deceiving her and then she could have had a good reason to end this. She hated how he seemed to be reading every thought in her mind, reaching for her.

“Because you flinch everytime he says your name, your hand is shaking as you hold he gun and because if you wanted you could have killed us or at least torture us a day ago. You don’t want to do this, trust me.”

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because… because sometimes you just need one person that you can count on. Who you can trust, and together any problem can be solved. If you let me, I’ll be that one person.” Mac didn’t know where this came from, but he meant it. If it wasn’t for Jack and Bozer and Matty he wouldn’t have been here, he knew he could count on them and this gave him the strength to come back from the chaos Codex pulled him into… 

When Mac looked at Jack he nodded to him in understanding. He knew where Mac was going in his head, and also knew how this kind of loss and guilt might help Riley and him bond. Jack put his hand on Riley’s to lower the gun from his head and she didn’t fight back. She seemed crushed by the weight of everything that happened, and Jack didn’t want anything else but hold her.

“It’s okay, baby, I am here now,” he whispered as he pulled her to his chest. 

There was one moment of peace when all of them fell into total silence. And then everything turned into chaos.

Suddenly loud bangs broke the silence of the basement, and shouts followed them. Riley moved away from Jack looking at him as if he burned him. He shook his head, trying to tell her it wasn’t them. Riley took out her phone and quickly checked the cameras all around the area. These men were all too familiar for Riley, they could not be from DXS. She switched the screen from the main door to different parts of the mansion just to see Matt getting shot in the head at door of the study. 

“No…” she whispered. Kai was in there. “I have to go!”

She ran out of the cell not caring about the two prisoners anymore. She had to admit she was not able to shoot them in cold blood, it was not her. 

“Riley, you can’t go up there alone!” Jack grabbed her arm.

“I can and I will, they want me!” she yelled. She knew it was her fault, they came for her because of what she did at the auction. She wasn’t going to let anyone else die for her mistakes. She forced her arm out of Jack’s tight hold and ran back to MacGyver’s cell. When it opened he looked at her with concern. “Thank you, now go!”

“Riley, stop!” But she didn’t hear them anymore. She sprinted up the stairs, footsteps behind her saying the two men followed her. 

As she reached the main hall, she had no chance to react, someone already put a gun to her head but he was knocked off of his feet by Jack, while MacGyver grabbed Riley and pushed her behind him. She looked at the man and couldn’t believe how a total stranger was willing to protect her. When Jack finally finished the man, he took his gun and came back to check on Riley.

“You okay, kid?” she just nodded. “Okay, let’s get out of here!”

“No, no, you go, I have to find Kai,” she was already on the move when Mac called after her. 

“We don’t know if she is still alive, Riley, and if we want to get out of here alive we can’t risk running unarmed,” Mac tried to make her understand but when the girl started moving anyways he knew she wasn’t going to leave without Kai. 

“I told you, I am not leaving without her, but you should go, I shouldn’t have dragged you into this,” she said and her eyes sent a silent sorry to Jack. The man shared a look with Mac, the same one they always did during messy operations. And truth be told almost all of them were messy. 

“I am not doing the same mistake twice, Riley,” Jack noted. “I am with you all the way, so let’s find Kai! Okay, genius, any good ideas?”

Riley couldn’t believe it when she watched MacGyver pull them into the supply closet and started looking for different items.

“Tinfoil? He’s kidding right?” She asked, being half intrigued and half shocked. 

“Oh no, my man never jokes about tinfoil,” Jack smiled and watched as the said person created diversion by starting up all the fire alarms. They could hear as the men out in the halls left the building in a hurry, shouting to pull back. “Let's go!”

They looked around carefully but it seemed the building was now empty. Whoever came for Riley must have thought the fire was going to finish up the job anyways. Riley hurried up on the stairs and ran through the hallway until she found Matt’s body at the door. Her heart broke at the sight of the man thinking of how excited he was in the last couple of weeks. He wanted to propose to Kai and she was the happiest person for them. Kai…  _ Please, please, please _ , she was praying as she entered the study. Jack stepped right in front of her, checking if the room was clear before letting Riley in. When he nodded Riley ran to the other side of the room.

“No, no, no,” she fell on her knees when she found Kai laying on the floor. Blood was all over her chest, she must have gotten multiple shots. Mac moved next to her to check the girl’s pulse. He wanted so badly to say, Kai was going to be okay, when his eyes met Riley’s. But she wasn’t. “No, Kai, you hear me you are not going anywhere, dammit!” Riley put pressure on her wounds as much as she could while Mac watched her and Jack left the room possibly to check the rest of the rooms. She was crying so hard, Mac never saw anything more heartbreaking. 

“Ri, we have to go…” Jack said a couple of minutes after he came back with a bag in hand but she didn’t respond. 

“She came here because she wanted to get ready to leave… She was in this room because of me…” she cried and her eyes fell on her necklace. The key was missing. She looked up on the wall and saw that the vault was opened with the emergency key she gave Kai in case something happened to any of them. Titan was gone. The soldiers left because they got what they wanted, and they left her to die. Alberto was right, she wasn’t irreplaceable, or untouchable. 

"Riley, please, we have to go!"

No words could reach her, she was still on the floor putting pressure on the wound. But it was too late. She was too late.

"Riley!" This time it was Mac calling out her name. 

She lifted her hands and stared at them covered with blood... She now literally had blood on her hands and this feeling was never going to let her go. She felt as Jack pulled her up and forced her to start walking to the garage. They got in a car and hit the road in the middle of the night while all she could think of was that she lost one more... she had no one left. It seemed no matter if she did the right thing or the wrong, she kept loosing.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't fear Dark Riley is not finished yet. Otherwise, if you are here for happiness, well that's a long way guys... For now let's just enjoy some heartbreak and suffering, shall we.  
> Yes, in this universe Mac already had a run in with Codex, but we will get to that, I have some twists up in my sleeve. 
> 
> Hope you'll like them.


	4. Black and White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too much action, but we need chapters like this, right? 
> 
> Let me know what you thought here or on Twitter (@whatsabex10) 
> 
> Love you all! XX

**Black and White**

Choosing between the yellow brick road or the dark path down to the deep forest are usually the two options people see when it comes to decision. But sometimes people end between the two, just Riley Davis did. When Jack forced her into the car to get out of her house, she didn’t ask questions. She was sitting in the back of the Jeep, trying to warp her head around everything that happened. After long, long years she finally got to meet Jack again but she had to pay a high price for the meeting: her home had been attacked and she had lost the last of her friends. Now what was she supposed to do? Where was she supposed to go? When she looked down on her hand that had dried blood on them, she realised she didn’t even care anymore. 

Mac kept his eyes on the road as much as he could after using a burner phone he found in the car to call Matty. But even though he tried really hard, his eyes always wandered back to the rearview mirror. He could tell how broken Riley was just by the way she kept her face straight and stared in front of herself. It was all she did since they left her house and it was a lot harder not to say a word to her than he expected. Jack didn’t even try, he knew already how words meant almost nothing when you lost someone. 

When they arrived at the Phoenix, Riley did not even try to fight, or utter a word she just let herself be taken to the interrogation room, while in the war room Matty wanted to hear about everything. She seemed angry at them, but the truth was she was just afraid. Jill and Bozer were working hard to find anything about them after their disappearance, but they couldn’t and it made Matty mad. But after hearing what happened, her expressions changed to curiosity and a bit of understanding. Yet when Jack tried to ask her to let him take Riley home, she went through a lot. She needed a safe place, not an interrogation room, Matty refused. She quickly dismissed the rest of the team before her fight with Jack went on. 

“They have been in there for a while now,” Bozer told Mac.

“Yeah, almost an hour now,” Mac looked at his watch. “Did anybody check on Riley since we got back?”

“I don’t think so,” Bozer shook his head. When Mac started walking towards the elevator, Bozer quickly followed. There was something in Mac’s look that he didn’t see before. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get her something to drink and eat,” he said simply. When he looked at Bozer, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Okay, stop staring. When we were in the cells, she made sure we got taken care of, so I think that’s just fair to give her the same.”

“No problem, we can ask her guard to do it then,” Bozer offered, knowing for sure his friend was going to come up with another excuse. 

“No need, I can do it, I wanted to ask her a couple things anyways,” he hurried out of the elevator when the doors opened. Bozer, enjoying the sudden turn of events, decided not to let his friend go so easily.

“I thought Matty said she’ll talk to her soon.”

“Yeah, I know!” Mac claimed. “But I… we have met her before, maybe she’ll be more open with us now that we practically almost got killed together. She is very smart, if we could get her to tell us what she knows, that could save a lot of lives.”

“Oh yeah, I know she is smart, ‘cause Jill couldn’t stop talking about her since you left,” Bozer said with just a bit of annoyance in his voice. Mac chuckled. “She looked at every damn tech Artemis37 created and sold according to our files and everytime she found something new she kept saying how brilliant she is.”

“Believe me not just with computers,” Mac let it slip.

“Oh yeah?” Bozer started to understand what the look was on Mac’s face before but decided to wait a bit longer before asking any hard questions. 

“I mean, I saw her turn a grown up man into a scared little boy with one look,” Mac tried to explain quickly. “She knows how to affect people, and that is a special type of smartness.”

“I guess the fact that she is insanely beautiful helps too,” Bozer noted with a smirk on his face, keeping his eyes on Mac. Right when he could have said anything Jill showed up next to Bozer.

“Hey, I have been looking for you,” she said and with a quick “I have to go” Mac was gone. “Where is he going, Matty said to meet her in the war room.”

“To our guest,” Bozer said, a little bit disappointed. He was so close to getting something out of Mac. 

“To Artemis?” Jill’s eyes lit up like candle lights. Bozer just nodded to her while they went up with the elevator. “Oh I wish I could meet her, too. I know she is a cyber-terrorist and everything but based on her work… She must be an amazing woman.” 

“Oh, that she is.”

Bozer only smiled to himself while they walked to the war room. It’s been a very long time since he saw Mac allowed himself to think of anything else but work. Losing Nasha and his father, later his aunt… all of these drained him, taking away his hope for feeling again. It seemed rather ironic how those feelings seemed to crawl back into his life through the backdoor.

Mac felt a bit stupid for running away so fast when Bozer mentioned Riley’s beauty. Yes, he was not blind, she was indeed mesmerizing and it was a fact. But admitting that he found him beautiful would have given Bozer the wrong impression. So when Jill arrived he bolted. He knew later he’ll have to face a couple of questions from his friend but he tried to avoid it as long as possible. The guard at the investigation room let him in without a hesitation.

“Hello, Riley,” his voice was barely a whisper and saying her name was something he got used to too easily. She looked at him, her eyes empty.

Little did MacGyver know about how Riley spent the last hours trying to find one sane though in her head. Her emotions were taking her on a rollercoaster: she felt guilty about what happened but then immediately got angry, she was sad and as her eyes got filled with tears she suddenly wanted to hit someone. In the car she was blaming Jack for showing up again in her life, now she was blaming herself. She couldn’t think straight until one thought hit her: she wasn’t going to let the men responsible for Kai’s death escape. She avenged her mother, and Kai might not have been her blood, but she was the closest thing to a family for her. She didn’t care about escaping jail or getting out of the country starting over. No, all she wanted was revenge and then the Phoenix could do whatever they wanted. 

“Hello, Mr Macgyver,” she greeted the man with absolutely no emotions in her voice. She knew she should have said thank you for saving her life but the Ice Queen, as Matt used to call her, never shows emotions including gratitude. 

“I brought you some water and food, I am sorry it took this long,” he said almost awkwardly and sat down across the table. The woman looked at him with an eyebrow lifted. For a while none of them said anything, and it kind of suited Riley well. But then Mac broke the silence. “Listen, I am very sorry about you friend.”

“Is this a good cop, bad cop game, Mr MacGyver?” Riley asked with a smirk on her face, but honestly she just wanted to avoid mentioning Kai’s name. “Let me guess you were sent in here to gain my trust, perhaps use your charm to get me talking?”

“No, I wasn’t,” Mac answered. “Actually I shouldn’t even be here. But knowing how much it hurts to lose someone close to you, I thought I would see if you needed anything.”

“Wow, I have to admit I never thought DXS would take such good care of bad guys like me, the famous cyber terrorist as Jack said,” Riley crossed her arms in front of herself and looked deep in Mac’s eyes.

“Do you even know how many lives your tech took away?” Mac saw the good in Riley before, he was sure in the basement, they had a moment and he could see the Riley Jack talked about earlier. But now, the cold and indifferent tone in her voice made him question his judgement. 

“Yes,” it was the truth. Riley knew what happened after she sold her creations. 

“Then you know why everybody looks at you and calls you one of the bad guys.

“That’s all you know, right? Looking at people and deciding that they are good or bad, nothing else!” Riley couldn’t help it but feel hurt. These people had no idea why she did everything, and they were never going to understand it. “Well, then let it be! I’ll sit here and play my role while you do yours.”

“I don’t understand it!”

“And you never will understand it!” Riley lashed out. Mac looked at her with an awakening of anger and curiosity, this woman was pushing all of his buttons at the same time. “Until you stop seeing everything black and white and acknowledge that we all are living in a grey world, you will never understand us.”

This was the moment when Matty decided to end their conversation. Jack and her had been behind the mirror looking at the scene unfolding. Jack was right, Riley Davis wasn’t like most of the terrorists they dealt with, but his opinion was biased. Matty wanted to believe him, wanted to help the young woman in front of them but she needed to know more.

“Oh, we got company,” Riley forced a wicked smile on her face that made Mac take a step back. She was switching from one emotion so easily as she was a computer herself. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Ms Davis,” Matty started and sat down where Mac was earlier. She was good at this, if she couldn’t manage to bring Riley Davis out of Artemis37, no one else could. “I am Director Webber.”

“I guess this is the bad cop part,” Riley tried joking but apparently the woman in front of her was not in the mood. “How can I help you, Director Webber.”

“That is a very good start, Miss Davis, for example you could tell me who took Titan.”

“If I knew who those men were, I wouldn’t be here,” she replied. Her head was already miles away thinking of the gun she bought all those years ago. She should have used it, go after those men.

“Could they be your friend, Alberto Valemier’s men?” Matty ignored Riley’s previous anwer. 

“Highly doubt it,” Riley was really not helping her case, Mac thought. She should have shown Matty that show wanted to help. Instead she seemed like she didn’t care about anything anymore.

“But you are not sure? He was at your house before the attack, right?”

“Yes, he was,” Riley admitted. “I know that he is on the watch list for almost every agency but he wouldn’t have betrayed me. He knew if there was a slight chance I survived the attack then I had everything on him that could have destroyed him and he would never risk that. No, it has to be someone else, someone who really needed Titan. Alberto’s business works just fine without it.”

“So what can Titan do then?” Matty moved to the next topic.

“It was created to allow an override for any computer or machine connected to a computer manually. It can be used for taking over stolen cars and returning them back to their owners, or shut down whole companies from a different company if the system shows a break in.”

“Or to take over planes and crash them into skyscrapers?” Riley hasn't said a word but silence was all the affirmation Matty needed. “So you have built a lethal weapon again, am I right?” Matty asked strictly.

“I am not creating anything for the sole purpose of killing innocent people,” Riley explained. “I am merely using the present technology’s crack and fault to point out how dangerous they are. Considering how much you know, I assume you are aware of how many organizations' systems did I build, or how many times did I successfully update the security on servers that could have led to not thousands but millions of lives being lost.” No one said a word which meant that she finally said something that the people in the room didn’t know. “See, this is what I meant. Did I make mistakes? Yes, I did, just like everyone else must have in this room. Did I choose the wrong option that was offered to me? Possibly, but I did what I could. If you want me to be the villain in the story, be it, but it wont’ change the fact that you cannot always be the good guy, when the world out there is grey… No one, not even you, are innocent. We all are responsible for someone’s downfall...” Riley looked at Jack. They both knew who the girl was thinking of: Diane. But they weren’t the only ones in the room falling into deep silence. Mac couldn’t help but think of how everybody whom he loved seemed to die just to protect him. He was responsible and he felt guilty about it every sleepless night. 

“You are right, Ms Davis, and no day passes by without me remembering their faces” Matty agreed and pulled out a folder. “But what about you?” She took out pictures and laid them down on the table. When Riley looked down people with their families were looking back at her, a group of girls smiling into the camera, a man with his wife showing up a pregnancy sonogram… and then Matty pulled out their pictures after they died. “These people have died in the robbery that went down because your code was used to get into the National Bank. These people died in a fire that started with their computers overheating, again, thanks to your ideas… You know you are responsible for these, and now you will have to live with their faces in your head.”

“Why do you do this?” Riley couldn’t hold up her facade any longer. She had tears in her eyes, looking back at Matty, her voice broken with all the pain she inflicted on others unknowingly. 

“You are not a bad person, Riley, Jack and I agree on that much,” Matty took Riley’s hand in hers. “But you made some very bad decisions. I am giving you a chance to make a good one now and possibly save lives, so one day instead of remembering these people,” she nodded to the pictures on the table, “you can focus on the ones you saved. What do you say?”

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Just act naturally, be yourself,” little did they know about how hard that task was for Riley nowadays. “The rest, just leave it to MacGyver.” 

“If you arrange the meeting for us and get Titan back, I’ll make sure you don’t end up in jail,” Jack added. Riley couldn’t care less about going to jail at this point. 

“You saw us work, Riley,” Mac finally found his voice after being silent for most of the conversation. “You know we can do this, but only if you help. Get us the name of the seller, set up a meeting. You are still Artemis37 for them, they won’t suspect anything. You get Titan back and we get you out of there in one piece.”

For a couple of minutes no one said anything. Riley subconsciously looked down on the pictures, knowing how they will hunt her for the rest of her life. But maybe Matty was right, she could still redeem a part of her soul. On the other hand, a voice in her head kept demanding justice for Kai and Matt. For the outside world she was just thinking through Matty’s offer but in reality Riley Davis and Artemis37 were battling. 

Mac felt the tension rise in the room and for a while he didn’t even take a breath. After what he saw from Riley, he couldn’t know for sure what she would say. But it seemed it depended on which part of her was more dominant: Artemis who was ruthless and cold or Riley who was kind deep at her heart but lost as well. Somehow he wanted her to be on their side more than anything before. He didn’t want to be opposite her, not just because she was a dangerous enemy but because he had the feeling together, next to her they could have done amazing things. She just had to say...

“I will need access to tech,” Riley leaned forward in her seat. The team shared a suspicious look. They all knew giving her a computer was like giving Jack a loaded gun. Hell would have been unleashed. But they also knew it was the only way to get the job done so Jack opened the door and a short, blonde girl hurried in with a laptop. When Riley looked up on her, she smiled awkwardly like a 12 year old. “Can I have some privacy?” She asked when no one left the room. She hated when people watched her work.

“I am afraid we can’t leave you alone just yet,” Matty answered. Riley was not surprised but still she felt a bit annoyed.

“And here I thought DXS could move Christmas,” she whispered but Mac and Jill who were standing right beside her let a small chuckle. No one could see but even Matty Webber had a smile hiding in the corner of her mouth. She would never have admitted it but she liked the girl almost immediately based on what Mac and Jack told her. She was strong, resilient and even after everything she had a good heart that she wanted to hide behind a concrete wall. She reminded her of herself a tiny bit. 

“So this is as far as I could get in the dark web,” Jill explained to Riley how much she covered so far. Riley looked at the computer and then back at the girl.

“Not bad, watch this,” she said and the girl leaned in to see what she wanted to show her. 

On Riley’s other side Mac stepped closer and leaned forward until he was just a couple of inches away from her face. He had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but somehow he felt the need to see closer the magic she was doing. For a split second Riley’s fingers stopped on the keyboard as she felt the earthy scent from the man’s body. She shook her head and worked on while Jill sometimes let out a  _ wow _ or  _ yes _ . 

After around 30 minutes Riley and Jill pulled back from the computer and looked at each other. 

“That’s impossible!” Jill said.

“What happened?” Jack asked looking at Riley.

“Well, we got into a secret bidding for Titan, obviously they are no longer willing to do it personally because of what happened,” she looked at Matty who nodded so she could continue. “We successfully arranged a meeting for tomorrow at a warehouse, and it turns out the seller we are meeting tomorrow is… Artemis37.”

“But that makes no sense,  _ you  _ are Artemis,” Jill said with pure confusion. 

“Alberto said nobody is irreplaceable,” Mac noted and Riley looked at him like he made the stupidest joke ever. “Maybe someone else from N3MESIS decided to take the lead now that you are...?”

“I haven’t been dead for 12 hours, for God’s sake!” Riley let out an annoyed yell. “Okay, let’s do this!!”

Matty looked at Mac and Riley sharing a look. She knew how much Jack trusted in Riley’s old self still hiding under her hardened mask. Based on Jill’s enthusiasm she knew, Riley was indeed an amazingly skilled woman, the Phoenix could use for good. But seeing how Mac and Riley clicked, how they seemed to know to push the other person’s buttons… She knew they were on the right path now. Yes, Riley was right, they couldn’t see everything black and white, but today they made the grey a little lighter. And they were about to do it every day with the rising phoenix from the ashes, that was called Riley Davis.


End file.
